I have been heartened by the response to my previous post on gun violence and gun control. The conversations that have arisen have been, for the most part, respectful and constructive. In the course of those conversations, many respondents have cited the connection between gun violence and mental illness. I agree that this connection is a vitally important component of the conversation. Especially so, because in our nation and particularly in the state of Texas, we face a critical lack of mental health resources.

On a recent mental health resources report card, the National Alliance of Mental Health gave both the United States and Texas a grade of "D". With regard to Texas, the report states, "Lack of community services in Texas results in significantly overcrowded emergency rooms and inappropriate use of prisons as warehouses for people with mental illness." Indeed, the Harris County Jail is, by default, the largest mental health facility in Texas. The lack of mental health resources is particularly acute in East Texas. Whereas in Austin, there is one professional therapist per 1,500 residents, in East Texas there is one therapist for every 10,000 residents. It is an untenable situation.

In the absence of sufficient governmental funding for mental healthcare, two institutions on whose boards I'm proud to serve are making a difference.

In August, hearses arrived for the funeral services for eight members of the Jackson family, who were shot and killed in their home.

Photo: Cody Duty

• The Beacon, through its Cathedral Clinic, serves the homeless and also intercepts mentally ill inmates as they are released from jail to provide psychiatric treatment and mental health counseling.

• The Bishop Dena Harrison Fellows Program, launched just last night by the The Seminary of the Southwest and underwritten by a $3 million gift from the Episcopal Health Foundation, funds three-year internships for new licensed professional counselors (who train at the seminary) to serve in rural East Texas.

I encourage anyone interested in contributing to tangible, positive social change to support either (or both!) of these very worthy causes.

People with serious mental illness are 3 to 4 times more likely to be violent than those who aren't. But the vast majority of people with mental illness are not violent and never will be. Most violence in society is caused by other things. Even if we had a perfect mental health care system, that is not going to solve our gun violence problem. If we were able to magically cure schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, that would be wonderful, but overall violence would go down by only about 4 percent.

A 2001 study looked specifically at 34 adolescent mass murderers, all male. Seventy percent were described as a loner. 61.5 percent had problems with substance abuse 48 percent had preoccupations with weapons. 43.5 percent had been victims of bullying. Only 23 percent had a documented psychiatric history of any kind ― which means 3 out of 4 did not.

An impromptu memorial outside the house of the Stay family in Spring, Texas. Last year, six people, including four children, were shot and killed there.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

Clearly the perpetrators of these crimes were mentally disturbed, but the challenge is that the vast majority were not diagnosably mentally ill. Is there, then, no way to identify those at greatest risk of committing acts of violence using firearms? Swanson says there actually is:

If someone has a history of any kind of violent or assaultive behavior, that's actually a better predictor of future violence than having a mental health diagnosis. If someone has a conviction for a violent misdemeanor...there's evidence they ought to be prohibited [from owning guns.] Things like a history of two DUI or DWI convictions, being subject to a temporary domestic violence restraining order, or convicted of two or more misdemeanor crimes involving a controlled substance in a five-year period.

Shannon Frattaroli, an associate professor of health policy and management at the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University, agrees with Swanson. "Substantial research finds that the strongest predictor of future violence is past violent behavior," she explains.

Beth McGinty, also a Johns Hopkins professor, adds another predictor: "Drug and alcohol abuse are also associated with increased risk of violence toward self and others."

Swanson, Frattaroli, and McGinty are all members of the Consortium of Risk-Based Firearm Policy. The Consortium released a study in 2013 which addresses the risk factors for gun violence comprehensively. Based upon their research, the Consortium also offers a set of recommendations for gun policy:

The report calls for strengthening current policies banning access to firearms for people with histories of involuntary treatment for mental illness...[and] offers a new "risk-based" paradigm to supercede the long-established model of gun rights restrictions focused on mental health. The report calls for temporary restrictions of up to five years on the purchase and possession of firearms by individuals convicted of violent misdemeanors, domestic violence, or more than one drug or alcohol conviction within a certain period — all of which are behaviors that demonstrate an elevated risk of violence, even when not accompanied by a record of mental illness... In all instances of temporary restrictions, there should be a process for individuals to have their rights restored when they no longer pose a significant risk of harming themselves or others.

It seems to me this is a good place to start. The recommendations call for restricting firearms from those who demonstrably have shown a propensity toward violence, who, in fact, have broken the law. People of good will disagree on many proposed gun control measures, but these recommendations provide a space for common ground that could appreciably reduce gun violence in our society.